Three Examples of Great Charitable Foundations for 2018

Charitable foundations are philanthropic initiatives aimed at providing relief to people affected by various adversities. These include the poor or abandoned children and adults, the homeless, the sick, orphans, widows, and the physically and mentally challenged in society.

All these people need some kind of assistance to improve their quality of life. Philanthropic organizations do this by providing shelter, food, clothing, education, and even funds to start entrepreneurial ventures.

Here is a list of some of the popular charitable non-profit foundations, which aren’t linked to any holding companies.

The Ravichandran Foundation is one of the most recently established charitable foundations in the U.S. This Boston-based philanthropic foundation was founded in 2018 by Hari Ravichandran – the C.E.O of Jump Ventures. The organization is dedicated to empowering the youth, promoting education, and improving health. https://ravichandranfoundation.org/

The foundation’s major initiatives include:

The CURE health initiative

The Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) is a non-state agency that was established to fund medical research in epilepsy. The agency funds and promotes patient-centered research aimed at finding the cure of the condition. The research funded by CURE has increased knowledge on the condition, improved treatment of seizures as well as the understanding of the causes and underlying mechanisms that lead to the disease. The Ravichandran Foundation started its support for CURE by providing an initial amount of $150,000 in 2018, and it has pledged to continue supporting CURE for more years.

The artist for peace and justice initiative

The Artists for Peace and Justice Agency is a non-profit organization created in 2009 to encourage social justice and peace, and to address other issues such as enfranchisement and poverty in societies across the globe. The immediate objective and focus of the agency is to serve the poorest communities in Haiti by providing quality healthcare and education. In 2018, the Ravichandran Foundation contributed an initial amount of $250,000 to support this initiative.

The Akshaya Patra initiative, which has the Akshaya Patra Foundation under it

The Ravichandran Foundation is also credited for founding the Akshaya Patra Foundation, which is a non-profit body based in Bengaluru, India. This foundation is tasked with eliminating hunger in students so as to improve learning. The body provides mid-day meals in government-aided and government schools. The provision of healthy meals is also aimed at preventing malnutrition problems among children from poor families. Presently, the organization provides nutritious meals to an estimated 1.7 million children in India.

The Bloomberg Philanthropies is a New York-based organization established in the early 2000s by Michael Bloomberg. It aims at improving education, government innovation, arts, public health, science, medicine, the environment, and women’s economic empowerment.

It is the 12th largest charitable foundation in North America. The body pledges to donate a major portion of its wealth to charitable courses. https://www.bloomberg.org/about/

This philanthropic organization is often known as the ates Foundation.’ It’s a private entity created by Melinda and Bill Gates. The organization is based in Seattle, Washington and it was established in 2000. The body now stands as one of the biggest private charitable foundation in the U.S with a $50.7 billion dollars’ pool of assets and funds. The funds are controlled by three trustees, including Warren Buffet, Melinda and Bill Gates. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/

The primary goals of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation include:

To improve global healthcare

To reduce extreme cases of poverty across the globe

In the U.S.A, the organization focuses on two major areas:

The expansion of access to information technology (IT)

Increase access to educational opportunities for the less fortunate, by establishing scholarships. A good example is the Gates Cambridge Scholarships, which are offered to students who enroll at Cambridge University.

While these may be some of the biggest charitable entities or some of the most recent charitable establishments, the list of all philanthropic organizations is quite extensive. But you don’t have to be part of such big foundations to be helpful to the needy. In fact, you can still make a significant impact by joining any of your small local charitable organizations in their quest to improve the living standards of those in need in your local community, by meeting their needs.